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Friday, February 6, 2015

European-based gluten-free baker Schar will be bringing gluten-free croissants in the U.S. come March. While the idea of a gluten-free croissant is a novel one, what's more unique is that it's the first Schar product available in America to include certified gluten-free wheat starch - processed to remove gluten - as an ingredient. The wheat starch allows Schar to add a durability to the dough that is key to achieving the croissant’s trademark crust. The use of gluten-free wheat starch is allowed in gluten-free products according to the recently enacted U.S. Food & Drug Administration guidelines so long as the ingredient is disclosed on the packaging and the product tests to less than 20 parts per million of gluten. The croissants come in classic and hazelnut cream-filled varieties.

According to Pam Cureton, R.D., a Celiac Disease specialist at the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment in Boston, “Products made with gluten-free wheat starch are absolutely safe, even for people with particularly high sensitivity to gluten.”

Schar's Director of Nutritional Services, Anne Lee, R.D., told me by email that "first and foremost, we test all of our ingredients before they are allowed into the production facility and we test batches during production as well as the finished product to assure there is no gluten entering our production facilities and no cross-contamination of any kind anywhere along the production and packaging process."

According to Lee, Schar has been working with certified gluten-free wheat starch for several years, as it increases the taste and texture of gluten free products. "In practice as well, we only use the wheat starch in a limited amount of products where the inclusion of the wheat starch is necessary from a sensory and quality necessity. That said, however, we are scrupulous in the process and selection of the end product as well as the supplier and the processing mill."

Lee says that Schar only uses Codex-certified gluten-free non-GMO wheat starch. "We have a very close collaboration with specific mills and research and development to process the extraction of the wheat starch to achieve a end product that is well under the Codex-allowed level of 20 ppm." She notes that the product is not acceptable for consumers who have wheat allergies. (You can read much more about gluten-free wheat starch in the current issue of Gluten-Free Living magazine; the article is posted on the magazine's website.)

The latest new product from Pamela's - gluten-free graham crackers - comes in both Traditional Square and Mini Size, available in Honey, Cinnamon and Chocolate.